Why I love The Greatest Showman

PASSION.
The almost all-consuming, give-it-your-all passion; both in front of the camera and behind-the-scenes.

This is a story about having a burning vision and dream—believing in it, and going after it.

I felt so alive watching the movie! And it burns for weeks after.
Everything about it—the aesthetics, the costumes, the expressions, the music (gosh! The music), the lyrics, the dance… but most of all, the heart.
The heart of the story itself, and the heart of the artists who acted in the movie.

I love this movie so much because this is me.*

“For anyone who’s bursting with a dream”

For the longest time, I felt that there’s someone in me who wants to burst out and embrace all that I am—in God.
To live to the full—true to who God created me to be.

*I know there’s a thin line between the world’s norm of “embracing who you are; you are you; be true to yourself” as touted in the movie, and the gospel of “finding Christ and expressing your newfound identity in Him”.

It’s also a precarious balance between the world’s “me, me, me, I, I, I, individualism”, and the gospel’s “Christ. And other people”.

I used to live in that former world. But a world of individualism through my own accord is a breeding ground for self-centeredness. Whatever you focus on, expands. And when the focus is on self, it’s easy to see how one can fall into being his/her own god.

I am now learning and tasting the contentment of living my identity through knowing who God made me to be—to be a reflection of Him.

Vision

When I watch Hugh Jackman acts as P.T. Barnum in the movie, especially the scene where he pitches his idea and negotiates with Philip Carlyle (which, by the way, is a fictional character), I can’t help but connect him with Steve Jobs.

He’s a visionary, he can sell his idea, making people excited about his vision because they can see themselves in it. He can make what seems to be impossible; possible (what people who worked with Steve Jobs would term “reality distortion”), and he can negotiate his way around. The mark of an awesome visionary.

It’s a story of celebrating differences in each of us.

Something that most people would find challenging to do—to love another fellow human being who is very different, let alone loving ourselves who in our own way are different from others.

This is me
This is me and I revel in it
This is me and I’m proud of it
This is me and I celebrate it
This is me because the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God, the ultimate Creator
The Creator of all creations created me.
I’m proud because I basked in His presence
I celebrate because the awesome Creator chose to create me.

Do you geddit?
He—created—me.
So, I have every reason to love myself because God, the Father loves me.

Do you geddit?
He—created—her—him—them.
So, you have every reason to love them because God, the Father loves them.

It’s a story that unites the heart of humanity.

The differences are what made us unique. There’s no one that’s a complete replicate of you. God is not a God of boredom or typical. He is the Creative God. And He made each one of us unique.

The one thing that He created similiar to all mankind is His DNA of love and the instinctive need for real relationships. It’s a universal need amongst humanity. Matter doesn’t have the need for love or relationships. Ain’t it logical that this universal need which is instinctive in over seven billion (very different) people has to come from one source? The one Creator who created everything from nothing.

So that over seven billion people on planet earth–of different shapes, sizes, colours, language, culture, background, education, status—shares the same DNA of love—created with love, wanting to be loved, and wanting to love. Also, instinctively and inherently, know what is good and what is evil. That is the universal moral law.

The Greatest Showman—if like me, you love and resonate with it, maybe it’s because the story is saying the same thing that we all know, want, and need to hear.

Dare to dream.
Love.
And…
The most important thing at the end of the day (or your life) is the relationships that you have with your family and people around you.

Post navigation

About

This blog is about knowing God and finding hope through Him. It is inspirational—not of the cupcakes and everything nice kind, but being able to thrive in the face of storm kind.

I write mostly about life experiences. It is through the writing of my stories that I hope the stories will relate to you. And in some way, inspires you further to living an intentional life of no regrets.